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dying. A planter informed us that the grub of a beetle pecu- 
liar to these trees burrows near the root eating voraciously. 
He had cut them out round the collurn of many, but he feared 
the mischief was too deep and that he would lose the greater 
part of his trees. This is not the only enemy of this useful 
Palm. A large black beetle, not unlike the female stag beetle, 
eats its way into the heart and then works down the tree. The 
only remedy is to watch, and on the least suspicion to use the 
knife sharply and cut out the intruder. 
“We arrived at last at a good sized plantation of sugar 
canes, which belonged to Mr. Mallet called Maloustanta and 
here we found the use of luo aqueduct. The water had been 
brought a great distance down the mountain, and was used by 
this gentleman to turn his cane mill, for grinding the canes, 
the juice to be distilled into rum. 
“ On this day the Admiral gave a picnic to which wo were 
invited, and had promised to join it in the afternoon. On ar- 
riving at Mr M.’s we found a large party dancing in front of 
the house. Directly opposit in a cocoanut grove a large tent 
was erected but tiffin was already over. As soon as the Ad- 
miral saw us he came forward and welcomed us heartily and 
most liberally supplied every want of the weary travellers. 
We declined figuring in the mazy dance, our rough and dusty 
costume not being exactly fitted for even an out door ball 
room, and we soon left, as we had still about 4 miles to go 
before reaching Port Victoria. 
“ Some time after leaving the party we saw some of the 
pretty little birds called Colibri, Nectarnia Dussumieri, and I 
shot several. Our road now led us down towards the sea 
shore and we fell in with a gang of prisoners lifting stone into 
boats for the construction of the pier; and others busy burn- 
ing the rocks, as bofore described, instead of blasting them , 
They were mostly large thick set Mozambiques almost nude. 
Eurther on, they were cutting down fine Bois Noir Acacia 
Lebhecli trees for firewood, for lime burning. The Kilns are 
merely holes dug in the sides of the mountain in which the 
coral is burnt. Branching off is a wild ravine, and turning 
over the atones 1 found c'jntipedos, scorpions, and other 
